He Is The Solution

I wanted to take the time today to speak to you about a number of things. These things might be weighing on you but you can know for certain that the Lord your God fights for you. He has the evidence of your salvation at his right hand: the wounded body of his Son Jesus Christ.

As you go about your path, your path that is Jesus Christ, the Way, you can find rest in him. You will find as you are exposed to Holy Scripture that he is carrying you, that the good you do-you only do in him. You are a member of his body. God does his work alone, but as members of his body, he is touching the world through you as well.

For all the things that you might find troubling: politics, religion, the state of your community, the condition of your country, your relationships, all such things, God has gone before you and has given you good works, that you should walk in them. The world can never be so dark that it is hid from God. He sees all, and he has met wrongdoing with justice.

You can let go of all indignation because Jesus, the Son of God, died for all. He died in the place of all. All sins were punished in him and so you can regard your neighbor with grace, not because you are good or your neighbor is good, but because you with your neighbor have been spared. You both have been spared from destruction by the rescue of Jesus Christ the Lord. You can greet your neighbor with a true peace that surpasses all human understanding.

Despite your political views, be assured that God knows truth from error. There is no lie that is told that will not unravel. The corrupt will have their corruption exposed, either now in time, or, on the Last Day. There is no evil that man can perpetrate that God can not undo. And while this does not mean you are free from responsibility, it does mean you are free from worry. God is above all and God is good to all.

The Truth is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Word of God. His light was shining from Adam, the first man, until now. People have been told from the start that the head of the serpent would be crushed by “Her Seed”. He is the One the serpent fears. While the muck of false teaching sticks, like mud, to the faithful; it only sticks. It does not poison and it can not kill what God has planted: the new man that is in Jesus Christ.  The new man resists false teaching. God will draw you out and away from false teachings.

Regardless of what you think or feel God is shining his light, both from the page, and off your flesh, that is, reflecting from you, to those around you whenever you tell what Jesus has done. May God open your mouth to speak about him whenever he wishes. The dark night is fading into the new day, and you are part of it, an instrument of God for his good and gracious will: that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth.

In our country, a republic, you are the Sovereign. The government works for you and answers to you. A monarchy is where a king or queen rules, he or she is the sovereign of the nation. In the United States of America however (If you happen to live here), it is the People who are the Sovereign: from the homeless man sleeping on a cold bench in a public park, all the way to the billionaire lounging on a warm beautiful coastline; the People, all together, are the sovereign. The government answers to us. And we all are under the merciful King Jesus Christ the Lord.

And God is with you in your close relationships with others. He has given such to you to teach you about him. You are a child of God. God is your Father. Those who believe are the Bride of God. Jesus Christ is the good Husband, the Head of the Church. Let your relationships, your friendships, be God’s ground to tread. A focus on him will diffuse conflict, and more importantly, lead you in the way everlasting, into eternal habitations. God wants you. God wants them.

Do not fear corruption, expose it. Do not trust false doctrine, refute it. Do not fear darkness, enlighten it. Do not obey tyranny, dismantle it. Do not neglect your loved ones, embrace them. This is God’s creation, and he puts you in charge of certain things. You are dear to him. He keeps all his promises. The enemy will rage and fume. God will bless and inspire.

Some of these things mentioned might seem obscure. That is ok: It is for God to lead us by his words. Jesus told his hearers, “The words that I speak unto you: they are Spirit and they are Life.” Follow Jesus. Breathe in the Spirit, take in the Life: hear Holy Scripture. Peace to you in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the solution.

 

 

 

 

Power To The People?

The phrase “power to the people” does not describe the people of a republic. Why? Because in a republic, the people have not been divested of power. Hence, they need not power to them: they have it.

The funny thing about a republic is that the people are the sovereign. Their elected officials are not masters, but servants. They are even rightly called public servants. A republic requires or assumes an educated and responsible people, for the people bear the rule. That is how a republic works and that is what God expects of a republic people.

The homeless man plus all his fellow citizens hold authority above Congress, the Supreme Court and the President. And, such a homeless man and his fellow citizens retain such authority, delegating certain duties to each of the these branches of government.

It is always time for the people of a republic to step up, to rule, not individually, but collectively. Are there problems with America? Who is to blame? It is best not to regard servants as kings. There is no passing the buck on this one.

That the people rule a republic is an expectation that proceeds from God. The people have a responsibility to see that good is rewarded and evil is punished.

Power to the people?

Too late. We already have it.

Servants

“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ”

“Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God”

“Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.”

Cited here are three verses concerning the duties of servants which include obedience of and honoring their masters.

The law of God regards all, so as to public servants: elected officials, the people have mastery over them-in a republic.

Whereas in a monarchy, where a king or queen exercises sovereignty over the people, a republic is where the people exercise sovereignty directly or indirectly through representatives, their representatives performing certain duties delegated to them, serving the people.

Kings are not elected and the people of a republic do not choose for themselves kings. Each form of government is God-given. Obedience to a king in a monarchy, or obedience to the people in a republic, is required by God.

Public servants are just that: servants of the public, the people. In power they are not above the people, but beneath, and are to exercise the duties specifically delegated to them by the people. In a republic, the people (the whole of the people and not individually or a sub-group of individuals) have mastery over their elected officials and are to regard them accordingly.

“Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.”

The people of a republic are to give their public officials what is lawful and fair, knowing that they with them have the Master Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. A just people will reward their public officials with fitting compensation and yet also hold them accountable for misconduct or crimes. An equal people will do unto their public officials as they would have done unto them. This is to be accomplished with the understanding all have a merciful Master in heaven who himself made himself the servant of all. That is the inspiration for proper treatment of others and the guiding principle.

So all are servants. Servants of a king are to obey the king. Servants of a people are to obey the people. And all, all are servants of Jesus Christ, who as a loving eternal king served them by laying down his very life to rescue them from eternal death.

Citations are from:  The Letter to the Ephesians chapter six, verse five; the Letter to the Colossians chapter three, verse 22; the First Letter to Timothy chapter six, verse one; and the Letter to the Colossians chapter four, verse one.